Krypton is a rare gas that is difficult and expensive to extract. It is commonly used in lighting and was discovered in 1898. Krypton is odorless, colorless, and tasteless, and is identified by the symbol Kr on the periodic table. It is extracted through fractional distillation and has some interesting curiosities, including its use as the official definition for the length of one meter and its association with the fictional planet Krypton.
Krypton is a gaseous chemical element that exists in concentrations of approximately one part per million in the Earth’s atmosphere. Because it exists in low concentrations, it is difficult and expensive to extract, making it quite expensive when it reaches the market. Its most common use is in lighting, as the gas gives off a very bright white light when it conducts current. Many so-called “neon” signs are actually made with krypton in colored tubes that glow when the gas turns into plasma.
The groundwork for finding krypton was laid in 1785, when Henry Cavendish observed that the air contained a fraction that was neither oxygen nor nitrogen. It turns out that several elements were present in this fraction which became known as noble gases, and scientists began to identify these gases one by one. Krypton was discovered in 1898 by William Ramsay and Morris Travers, along with neon and xenon.
Like many noble gases, krypton is odorless, colorless, and tasteless. When it solidifies, it creates cubed white crystals and its spectral signature is deep green to red. The element has atomic number 36, and is identified by the symbol Kr on the periodic table. The gas itself is relatively stable and unreactive, although radioactive isotopes can be created through nuclear reactions. Most of the element in the environment is found in the atmosphere, although it also appears in minerals and meteorites.
To extract krypton, scientists must use a process called fractional distillation. In this process, a sample of the air is cooled so that it solidifies, then gently heated so that it returns to a gaseous form. Because elements in the air become gaseous at different temperatures, they will precipitate at different rates, allowing scientists to collect them one by one in the air as they return to a gaseous state. Fluorescent lights often use krypton, as do extremely bright lights that can use a blend of noble gases to operate.
There are a few curiosities that make krypton an especially attractive item for some people. It served very briefly as the official definition for the length of one meter, which was determined based on the spectral length of an isotope of the element. It also lends its name to the fictional planet Krypton, home of Superman and the dangerous mineral kryptonite. Unlike kryptonite, however, this element is not very life-threatening, although it can act as an asphyxiant in high concentrations by displacing the oxygen most organisms need to breathe.
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